arts and crafts

soooo … I have been doing a Blog Block Party with RRBC (Rave Reviews Book Club)… great post by bloggers, authors, and all manner of peeps… and I wanted to offer something new as a prize this time… over course I have some of my bracelets and earrings to pick from, but I wanted to add some new fun swag…

I broke out my tools, added some keychain rings and some chain…. and wha-la…

so far I have five keychains with various charms… I just need to add sayings in the bottle cap charms…

so that has been my art project this month… if you guys want a chance to win a keychain or bracelet/earrings, I am scheduled as one of the stops on the RRBC block party on the 29th, over at my book blog Finder’s Keepers Series … I will have a character interview with Marin from my Finder’s Keepers Series… Makayla (also from the books) did an interview on the 5th over on my author site Finder’s Keepers – Author Tracey Clark …

but I’m not the only one will cool prizes and posts… check out the RRBC Block Party line up… there are stops every day this month… alright guys… that’s all for now…

booklets are easy but time consuming… and a bugger to figure out the first time… so here is a cheat sheet for your first… 😛

you need a printer, some printer paper, staples, and a paper cutter…

you need to have your paper turned to the landscape view, and the first time around, set your desired margins and grid… (two rows and four columns) put the first chapter (maybe first two chapters) teasers, author bio, cover, buy & author links, etc… and print out your four pages (front and back printing)… this is not your booklet… this cheat sheet shows you what info/wordage goes in each cell ….

next you put use this guide to put what goes in cell one, in one… in cell 20, in 20… etc… (on the computer you have four pages in landscape mode, but use two-sided printing so you end up with two pages)

28 : 5 / 26 : 7

32 : 1 / 30 : 3

back of page (pg 2 in computer)

8 : 25 / 6 : 27

4 : 29 / 2 : 31

this is the front and back view of the first page… once you use your paper cutter you have four pages of your booklet… you can either but the cover in cell one *(1) or just start out with your chapter … and print out covers later… if you choose to do the covers later, then you have …

back pg / cover / back pg / cover

back pg / cover / back pg / cover

instead of numbers, you follow the back pg/cover method… otherwise your cover is in cell one and the back pg is in the last cell…

and this is the front and back of the second page… or page three and four on the computer before printing…

16 : 17 / 14 : 19

12 : 21 / 10 : 23

on back (*pg 4 on computer)

20 : 13 / 18 : 15

24 : 9 / 22 : 11

make sure to print out and save your cheat sheet… the one with the cells numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc… so that you can easily check to see if you have the correct info in your cell… otherwise, just cut and paste from your saved cheat sheet to your booklet… good luck and happy wordage, tracey

Like this:

these things are sooooo dang cute… by far, my faves…. they have a hoop of beads with a dangly flower in the middle… mom suggest I do this with some of the baby bling… I immediately pictured one of the strollers dangling in the middle… like rock-a-bye baby earrings… 😛

most of ya have probably seen what I needed to make these earrings, but I thought I would throw it in here again for anyone new dropping by… you need wire (not too soft), wire cutters and rounded pliers, charms & beads, and the post of your choice… woo who…

I am loving these dangly earrings with charms… they are adorable… now the piece I was working on that was more complex…. welllll… I have dismantled it… lol… I was too heavy, and that was when I was halfway through…

I thought that if they felt too heavy, in my hand, they would kill a person’s ears… I think I will either turn the charm (a splitter like thing so you can have three things/charms/beads hanging from the charm) into a cute pendant for a necklace, or a different type of design… I thought of a different way to use it in an earring design that might not be so heavy…

I really hope my new earring design isn’t too heavy… in my head, it looks really cute… lol… we’ll see when I finally get it put together… fingers crossed…

sad but true… most adults prefer a more plain look to their clothes and jewelry … lol… kids are still experimenting… deciding what they love to look at and wear… by the time we reach adulthood, most of us have our favorites… mine is purple, but I also love mixtures of color…

that’s part of the reason I love crackle glass beads… or the ones that have a marble top look… I call this my MS bracelet… 😛 orange is the Multiple Sclerosis color for ribbons… it isn’t my normal go to color, but this is one of my favorite bracelets…

Kids bracelets are always fun to make… sometimes more so than the adult versions… with the kid bracelets you can be as crazy as you want, like working on an abstract painting… lol… those are great…

always mix and match your beads until you have a look that works for you… later guys, tracey

I love for my beads to have that marbled look… it opens up the possibilities to mix them with both light and dark colors… each bracelet I make has some element that speaks to me… if it looks cheap or boring to me, why in the heck would I expect someone to buy it… I wouldn’t… and if I wont wear it, and no one else is picking up for a gift or for themselves, then I am just wasting my time…

always makes something that you love… I know that everyone has differing likes and dislikes, but I can only make what appeals to me on some level… it’s like a chef… if they love food, they want it to taste delicious, and their best dish will be something they have been making over and over again for themselves… know what you like, try to branch out, and always try new things… in the end you will make something that you and everyone else will love…

keep it simple, mix and match, add some connector and decorative items… playing with your beads can be stressful or soothing, hopefully more soothing than anything else… make sure you have enough light to work by, cause low lighting makes those tiny holes a pain in the arse to get your elastic string through…

how cool is this… my aunt sent this to me, and I love it… you can do it with just about anything… if you’re not a fairy person, I see so many other things you can catch in your jars… very cool…

I hope these links work for you, so you can check out the tutorial, but if not… just type Fairy Lantern Tutorial into your computer, I found it immediately …

anywho… here is the Facebook page and the YouTube site … good luck guys… I would love to see what you all come up with… personally, I want to see if I can trap lightning and sprites in my jars… muhahahah…

okay… you guys are probably tired of my beaded bracelet posts… lol… but they are my go to art project when I want to relax… after this one, I promise… just one more on beaded bracelets this month…

this one is about making the most out of the beads you cant see making an entire bracelet out of … hmmmm … why would you even buy these??? especially when you can make simple and easy???

those bracelets are beautiful, but having something a little different can be just as inspiring… plus… different stands out… if you can make something that is different and beautiful, you have made something great

I took beads that I would choose to wear by themselves… but once I mixed them with some other beads and used them as connectors, I had bracelets that I loved and would be happy to wear…

I am still working on (@$#^%^@W%#$ – its a secret… muhahaha) but I wanted my cuz Erin to have some Preggo Bling so I came up with these… there are some really cute baby charms out there… but these are two of my faves…

if you look hard enough, and price shop, you can find just about anything … I tend to get sucked in, with no hope of ever stopping, when I start searching for charms… lol…

okay… this is a short one… check out the Ear-ring post to see how I made these… it is easy if you have patience and a steady hand… two things I usually have trouble with… later guys… tracey

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